The Hearts of Two Mages
by heartfeelias
Summary: She thought he would never be anywhere but by her side. He thought her smile could never falter.


**Part 1: A strong fragile thing this woman's heart**

It had been three months from the the sudden disbandment of the guild. 'Three months and a day from his disappearance' the girl thought opening the door to her place. She sniffed glaring furiously at her room. It felt cold and deserted now. One particular spot made her bite her lip as she slammed her door shut. Lucy had kept the letter on her desk. Every now and then from the day she had found it the blonde would spend a little of her time reading it. Today she was prepared to do so again and she moved to her writing station sliding her feet on her apartment. This time it was Erza that had left this morning.

"N-no," she hissed clamming her hand onto her eyes and forcing back the tears. Erza had left with concern for her, she couldn't let her sister figure down and lose it now. This especially after all the air she had thrown about at the trains station as she pushed the older girl onward to her new life...a life without team...

Giving in she picked the paper up. It was starting to look crumpled and had aged along with its reciever marked with light spots there and here as if having been wet at some point. His clumsy, ragged writing made her giggle in between sobs. Her thoughts drifted on the fact that if that dragon boy was here he would certainly pick on her and it all became just a tad lighter in her world. Yes, he would pick her back up just like the day she had met him. He'd stop her from falling just like that time after she escaped the cluthes of Jose and heard him coming for her.

However her own doubt creeped and Lucy moved to her bed letting herself fall on her back as she covered her eyes. It didn't help she couldn't stop thinking about it. Darker thoughts seeped into her mind.

_'He left you,'_ it chortled

"No,"

_'He couldn't even face you and let you go,' _it giggled

"That's...not..."

_'A burden he could no longer take care of,_' her insecurities surfaced maliciously and stabbed at her

"not..right,"

_'He trusted you and you couldn't even keep a simple promise,'_ it snickered

Her weak replies died down and she shot up to a sound of crumpling paper. Her eyes drifted to the letter in her hand and she let out a ragged breath. Slowly she moved her fingers gently as if the paper could actually break in a million pieces if she didn't straighten it as gently as possible as she fixed it.

"Fix...?" she murmured to herself. Levy had spent countless nights caressing her head until she fell asleep after the whole Tartaros ordeal. She heard Gajeel had mentioned some job for them and Lucy had urged her to go for it reassuring her that her celestial spirit soul was pumped up again. Levy hadn't seemed very convinced at the station even though Lucy had struck a funny pose complete with smile. Erza had pretty much moved in with her after she found her on the borders of the town with a letter in her hand sobbing in a fetal position by some tree. She had even given her a piggy back ride that day because the blonde's feet had filled with blisters from the new shoes she had treated herself to after the big battle with Tartaros. Even Mira had handed her a card just before leaving.

_'For old times sake,'_ she had giggled pushing an index finger on the blonde's forehead and making her promise to eat her meals regularly.

She wanted to be useful and there was a way to do so without having to give up on her families or her dreams. Mira had known that and Jason's card with a job recommendation was the key to a new life.

"If I can push myself into a writing job I can make a new life," she mumbled jumping up to her feet, "But I'm not done with fairy tail yet..."

A giggle escaped her lips. Her chest felt bubbly and there was a strange fire in her belly. It could work. For the first time in months she felt it would all be alright and the goofy grin that ignited her features and drowned the need to hide herself and cry.

"I'm all fired up for work," she bellowed raising a fist to her cieling. A blush coloured her cheeks a rosy red as she heard the usual fisherman burst out in laughter and merry encouragement and she rushed to her window to wave at the pair.

Now then, the young mage nodded at the outside and looked back at her home thinking about were had she left off in the writing of her story and what needed to be written from her on till the next adventure.

A year had passed in the blink of an eye. Her travels had taken her too many new places and the celestial mage had written many an exciting story with her new writing partner. Jason was funny, smart, indulging and a great teacher. He showered her with praise and made sure she was settled in happilly anywhere they went. Granted the celestial mage had exhausted and worried the poor man going off on her own to train and perfect her magic. Her lack of sleep had caused them some embarassment but her research and hard work had brought fruitition. Lucy felt that the greatest tribute to Aquarius was her current success at mastering her new celestial powers. The King had granted her a one life opportunity and the young girl turned her memory of the event into a miracle or perhaps a sort of redemption through sheer will power and self study.

All this she performed while looking out for her family. Lucy did her best to keep track of all of them. He was elusive but the rest of the gang was easy to figure out from rumors or the fame the Grand Magic Games had brought upon the individual mages of the guild known as the number one in Fiore. Ah, but that would end in a few days...

The new Grand Magic Games was currently underway and no matter how dull or inexperienced the guilds before her seemed to her it wasn't like a sane person would actually jump in and pulverize them just to keep the title of number one for a disbanded guild. It irked her a little, that as sharp as her magic and sensiticity towards it had become in the last year, and as weak as they all seemed to her right now...there was nothing that motivated her to go crazy anymore. As such the reporter, formerly guild mage, took notes and sugercoated her thoughts of the events of the day.

A sigh escaped her as she turned from Jason and left for her hotel room. Lately all she could to was exhale depressingly but the daughter of Jude and Layla Heartfilia could not be disenheartened just yet.

"I'm all fired up!" she burst suddenly surprised by her own outburst more than she had frightened the passersby as she slapped her hands on her face and run off to her home in a shy and rapid getaway.

Why had he sprung into mind now? The mysterious man who seemed to have vanished into nothingness as if her darkness had swallowed him last year along with the little blue nuisance. Right now, she would give anything to hear the taunts the little furball would throw at her.

Nonetheless Lucy Heartfilia felt troubled the next day from the smiling greeting said cat presented her. Reasons included the fact her heart felt like bursting. Several emotions rocked her very core and as her hands moved to cover herself automatically it became clear to trembling teen that shame was not the primary factor that pushed this reaction. Her legs were shaking and as the fool grinned at her she felt angry again and this feeling swept away the fearful edge of the fire magic she had witnessed and felt with her very being. This was Natsu, he was absolutely not frightening, vry real and very much of an _idiot!_ The anger of having been left behind to deal with a mess of a situation. Guilt followed shortly after like it always did, because who was she to decree that this man couldn't set of on a journey to build himself up? As a celestial mage and fellow fairy tail kid she knew why he had done it and had followed suit. These all gave way to happiness amplified by the old goofy grin widening and she whispered his name for the first time in a year, "Natsu..."

It took all but a few days together as he swept her off her feet in the literal sense and took her on a new journey to rescue their family, as the pink haired man would say. Her heart ached in his vicinity and it also welled up with anticipation. However her own snark remarks sent pangs into her soul as Lucy watched Natsu flinch from the meaning behind her words. Not all was back as it once was and the maturity she had achieved through yet another scarring loss told her it would never be. This was especially true if they kept the same mindset were the fire mage thought Lucy was right, and she figured Natsu was not all that wrong either. He dreamed of a power to protect his cherished friends even though his action to follow that ideal led to some resentment for the year the rest of them passed in grief, it was still a noble dream to Lucy.

Every opportunity seemed promising for his hand to seek a part of her body. Lucy noted that whenever she smiled to him it was as if a button on the taller man was pushed to come in contact with her. Sometimes she'd nervously play with her pony tail and he'd nudge her. To describe it better the fire dragon slayer's body heat seemed to linger with her and remind the celestial mage he was right by her side and this would not chage any time soon. Not another parting, not anymore, was the promise the heat was offering. And when it started to fade, Natsu popped out from somewere squeezing her shoulders, holding her hand and pulling her along or simply patting her head and pretending to show off his new height.

He touched her more than before as if to show that it was not all in vain, that he too had changed. Natsu's loss was akin to Lucy's and they would need to mold a new bond between them. It was scary to Lucy whose first family had been gone before she could truly appreciate them. Whose second home had crumbled before any of the gifts they bestowed upon her could be replaced. Somehow it was also exciting and the hand playing with her hair was the cause of the rising beat in her heart. The strong thump in her ears signifying that the weak little thing was not so lost after all. It even made the teasing remarks of that thieving cat seem melodious to her ears.

And as they made way through the forest to get to their first family member in high spirits and youthful pranks, the old fairy tail didn't feel such a thing of the past.

"Natsu!" she called him after having let him walk of a bit on his own once again. He'd stop every now and then to fidget and look back behind with a frown on his face and a questioning look. Now he seemed to perk up at the mention of his name and resembled a puppy being called by his best friend.

"Yeah Lucy? You tired?" he smirked, "Don't get used to me carrying you around lazy bum,"

A small scoff from the blonde was quickly replaced with a smile and she shook her head.

"No, just checking you didn't get lost again," she replied shrugging and wondering if she should continue as they were. Looking at his back made her feel she wasn't living a dream.

"Okay, that's it," Natsu roared throwing his hands in the air and stomping towards his teammate, "I hear something with my little ears, something beginning with river and ending with Lucy thrown in it!"

Girlish shrieks and boyish laughter echoed in the early afternoon as the trio took a rather spirited break for their travel. The sounds were soon followed by splashes and grunts amidst which the loud laughter of three inseparable friends were heard once again by the magical world. And Lucy thought in her mind as she grinned to a soaked fiery mage as he pushed his hair away from his eyes and wrung his jacket that she wouldn't mind trying to let him cherish her and her patched up heart that much. She wouldn't tell him though, a joke on his attempt to copy Gray felt more appropriate.


End file.
